All of the changes to Torghast in patch 9.1

Torghast supposed to be an ever-changing prison, and living up to that theme, the Tower of the Damned is getting a major remodel in patch 9.1. Four new Layers will be added, so there are now 12 Layers for each of the main wings of Torghast, so you’ll have new, tougher challenges to face. But each Layer will only have 5 Floors now: Floors 1, 2, and 4 will have mobs like before, Floor 3 has the vendor, and Floor 5 now has the final boss.

But while Torghast in patch 9.1 looks more or less the same, how you play Torghast is changing a lot. There’s no longer a death counter, so you can effectively die as many times as you want without a giant Tarragrue chasing you. And because the final boss’ health doesn’t reset when you die while fighting them, you’ll be able to whittle the final boss down and always walk away with some Soul Ash.

But the biggest change is the new Scoring System. It’s no longer just about finishing a Layer without getting crushed by the Terragrue: it’s about earning points. Now in your runs you’ll see an Empowered progress bar, which rewards a players for bursts of activity. There are new buffs and debuts to help and hinder you as you progress: Blessings will aid players and Torments will increase the challenge. And there is a new perks system in the Box of Many Things.

Let’s look at a few of these new additions.

Torghast’s new scoring system drives how it should be played

In patch 9.1, you’ll see a score at the end of each Torghast run. The score will be displayed in gems, between 0 to 5. This ranking determines whether you can unlock the next Layer and also how much Tower Knowledge (a new currency) you earn from it. No longer does completing a Layer mean you automatically unlock the next Layer: starting at Layer 8, you must earn 4+ gems in a  single run to unlock the next Layer. And beginning at Layer 9, if you earn 5 Gems you’ll open up a bonus area: the Adamant Vaults.

So how do you earn gems and improve your score? There are several factors:

• Completion. The more you kill and collect, the higher the score. Kill every mob, destroy every phylactery, and save every soul. There is a completion percentage, and the higher the percentage, the higher the score, 1 Point per 1% of the mobs killed, up to 100 points. 10 points if all of the souls are collected, and 5 points if all of the phylacteries are destroyed.
• Speed.  There’s an unseen timer and coming in under time rewards 50 points. For Layer 8, this is 33 minutes and 30 seconds. For Layer 12, it’s 38 minutes.
• Streaks. Then there’s your Empowered percent time, which is basically a streak timer. Killing mobs, breaking phylacteries, saving souls — they all add to your Empowered bar. When the Empowered bar reaches a certain point, marked by a line on the bar, an action button appears. Hit the button, and for the entire part, the Empowered bar starts decreasing. During this time, everything that earns points earns twice as many points. Also, Haste, Movement Speed, and Leech is increased.

To reach 4 gems, you need 160 points. You don’t need to clear 100% and you don’t need to speed through everything — you need a healthy balance of both. You want to get about 90% cleared while beating the time — and once you start attacking, you need to keep killing mobs, breaking phylacteries, and doing other activities. Use Empowered as much as possible to double those points.

New Torments and Blessings make Torghast harder (and easier)

Torghast’s new challenges go beyond speeding through new Layers. Now all Layers 4 and above have unique Torments — think of them like Affixes in Mythic dungeons — and the higher the Layer the more Torments they have. Layer 4 will only have one Torment, while Layer 12 will have five Torments.

These Torments will change daily, and a few of them have been datamined so far. One Torment on the PTR is Lockdown: “While in combat your location is periodically bombarded, dealing Physical damage and slowing you.” This is the same effect we currently see in the Maw: where you see a swirling white circle on the ground and if you don’t move, five chains land on you, dealing damage and slowing your movement. If you aren’t a fan of Torments, there’s a perk to reduce the number you’ll have to deal with — but you’ll need to earn Tower Knowledge by running Torghast in order to get it.

But it isn’t all bad. Blessings are buffs that you can pick up in the new perks system. They’re in the first row of perk options, so they can be obtained early on. An example of a Blessing is Diminishing Blows: “The first 3 elite enemies you attack apply Diminished to the target: reducing their health to 1.” This means the first three elites you attack die instantly, including end-of-the-Floor bosses. After that, nothing. It’s probably a perk that works better in a group of five, when this works against 15 elites. Another Blessing provides more Anima Powers throughout Torghast, starting by giving you two the moment you enter.

The more you play and the more Tower Knowledge you earn, the more Blessings you’ll have to help you overcome these Torments.

The new Torghast perk system is the Box of Many Things

Horrific Visions in BFA were the first time we had a scenario that scaled with a party of 1 to 5 players — which made it sort of the precursor to Torghast. And the Horrific Visions had MOTHER’s Titanic Research Archive, where you could spend Corrupted Mementos to buy upgrades to make the Horrific Visions easier. Now that system is coming to Torghast with a new name and a unique currency.

The first time you run Torghast in 9.1, you will see a Broker with an orange exclamation mark over their head named Ve’nish, Acquisitions Specialist. They’ll give you a box (i.e. a quest) to turn in to the Runecarver. This Box of Many Things can collect the memories of Torghast — the Tower Knowledge we’ve already mentioned — to buy perks like Blessings. You’ll earn Tower Knowledge by running Torghast and getting a good gem score. The higher the score earned, the more Tower Knowledge earned, letting you buy more perks to help you be more efficient in runs — improving your score and giving you even more Tower Knowledge to spend.

This will be the new grind in Torghast. The more you do in Torghast in a week, the more you’ll earn. If the new Layers seem too hard, or out of reach and unlockable at first, you can keep earning Tower Knowledge and feeding it into the Box of Many Things. Eventually, even the toughest parts of Torghast will become doable.

Originally published 5/5/2021, updated 6/4/2021